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[samhexum]

A British university lecturer is getting a $20,000 payout for unfair dismissal — after being fired for aggressively using too many question marks in messages.

 

Dr. Binoy Sobnack was fired last March as the warden of a residence hall at Loughborough University following complaints that his excessive punctuation created an “intimidating” tone, according to a court ruling.

 

Text messages to other staff included one asking “Do you have to stay for dinner????,” and another asking, “Why don’t you listen?????? Stick to what has been decided!”

 

An employment tribunal in Leicester ruled that Dr. Sobnack — who is still a physics lecturer at the university — was unfairly dismissed from his role as warden, which he held for 18 years, because the complaints against him were unproven and never fully investigated.

 

However, Judge Richard Adkinson reduced the planned payout amount by 25 percent, leaving the lecturer with $20,000 — because his “conduct contributed to his dismissal.”

 

Sobnack had ignored warnings and his “brusque, blunt and unnecessarily aggressive” messages amounted to “culpable and blameworthy conduct,” the ruling said.

 

“The use of multiple exclamations or question marks… might make an otherwise neutral text appear aggressive, intimidating or suggesting disbelief,” the judge wrote.

[Guest]

Isn’t that the point????

[wsc]

The right punctuation can clarify, and wrong punctuation can mislead. As in:

 

The panda eats shoots and leaves. -or- The panda eats, shoots, and leaves.

[suggested by Eats, Shoots & Leaves The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, by Lynne Truss, Gotham Books, 2003]

 

I can only conclude the university considered the (so labeled) excessive use of question marks to be as equivalently aggressive and impolite as yelling at someone in an email through use of ALL CAPS.

 

To criticize the effects of imprecise and misleading punctuation is one thing, but to demonize a perceived punctuation-based aggression seems, to me, somewhat ludicrous. But then, to me, it sometimes increasingly seems a world going quickly mad.

[Guest]

Maybe. But I wonder if they would have felt better if he’d used emojis. The chosen style of punctuation is simply a method of adding emotional emphasis to the flat written word without excessive wordiness.

[+ sync]

But then, to me, it sometimes increasingly seems a world going quickly mad.

But I wonder if they would have felt better if he’d used emojis.

Unquestionably!!!!!! ?

[+ Charlie]

"The panda eats, shoots, and leaves."

 

Who is this escort who calls himself The Panda?

[BgMstr4u]

How long did it take the escort panda to shoot????

[rvwnsd]

"The panda eats, shoots, and leaves."

 

Who is this escort who calls himself The Panda?

Sounds very business-like

How long did it take the escort panda to shoot????

Hopefully, longer than ten minutes.

[Bargara Leatherboy]

How crazy. People who criticise my spelling or grammar on social media drive me to distraction. I always respond with did you understand - therefore i was successful at communicating with you ....

 

the people who made this decision sound very anal to me

[+ Cash4Trash]

He is an educator acting in a very childish way. Bet he's a real prick to deal with and they took the easiest path to run him out of town.

We'll never know.

[samhexum]

He is an educator acting in a very childish way. Bet he's a real prick to deal with and they took the easiest path to run him out of town.

We'll never know.

 

Or care

[samhexum]

How crazy. People who criticise my spelling or grammar on social media drive me to distraction. I always respond with did you understand - therefore i was successful at communicating with you ....

 

the people who made this decision sound very anal to me

You should have capitalized the I after therefore and the T in 'the' at the start of a sentence (which didn't have a period at the end of it, btw). ????

[mike carey]

You should have capitalized the I after therefore and the T in 'the' at the start of a sentence (which didn't have a period at the end of it, btw). ????

Gentlemen don't have periods. (Runs away laughing like a schoolboy.)

[samhexum]

Gentlemen don't have periods. (Runs away laughing like a schoolboy.)

Who ever said @westernsyd was a gentleman? ????

[+ tassojunior]

I know caps are considered rude as shouting so I guess over-use of a question mark could also be. The use of bolding and larger type size also can be insulting sometimes. I know "wtf" will bring the wrath of editors down on you a lot of places.

[mike carey]

I know "wtf" will bring the wrath of editors down on you a lot of places.

WTAF?

 

I choose to ignore people who disdain 'wtf'. I think it's useful.

[+ tassojunior]

WTAF?

 

I choose to ignore people who disdain 'wtf'. I think it's useful.

I've had innocent posts deleted by Facebook for it (and warned) and been banned from a local blog for using it after warning.

[mike carey]

I've had innocent posts deleted by Facebook for it (and warned) and been banned from a local blog for using it after warning.

Fair enough, it's probably one of those things that sparks an American puritan reaction. I'm in favour of salty language.

[Luv2play]

"The panda eats, shoots, and leaves."

 

Who is this escort who calls himself The Panda?

I could name a few since I often offer dinner before the main event and they always leave in the morning.

[+ tassojunior]

Fair enough, it's probably one of those things that sparks an American puritan reaction. I'm in favour of salty language.

and for me there's a huge difference between WHAT THE FUCK ! and wtf.

[Bargara Leatherboy]

Who ever said @westernsyd was a gentleman? ????

 

 

Lots of ignorant people have said and written lots of comments about me, some are true, some are urban legends set in stone, and some are just plain old funny , and then there is the really crazy ones who fail to realise that I was brought up rather than dragged up.

 

You should have capitalized the I after therefore and the T in 'the' at the start of a sentence (which didn't have a period at the end of it, btw). ????

 

Now I am guessing you do not understand Aussie humour, but mike carey does, we don’t use the term “period“ for the “dot“ at the end of a sentence, we refer to it a a full stop, we do hang around to some of our old English traditions here, all those convicts who settled our nation brought those traditions with them.

 

A period is Aussie is what woman use feminine hygiene products for.

 

Anyway Samhexum, we have not been formally introduced, so be a gentleman and do the decent thing, then you will really qualify to take the piss out of me, in a true blue fashion ..... and then you can bag out my poor grammar, (or how I chose to use it to piss you off) among other things on your journey to discover what a dead set top bloke I am - you may eventually qualify to be my best mate

[Guest]

A period is Aussie is what woman use feminine hygiene products for.

but why, pray tell, do they call it a period???????????????????????

 

oops, is that a hijack????????????????????

 

sorry....................

[samhexum]

Anyway Samhexum, we have not been formally introduced, so be a gentleman and do the decent thing, then you will really qualify to take the piss out of me, in a true blue fashion ..... and then you can bag out my poor grammar, (or how I chose to use it to piss you off) among other things on your journey to discover what a dead set top bloke I am - you may eventually qualify to be my best mate

 

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[Bargara Leatherboy]

but why, pray tell, do they call it a period???????????????????????

 

oops, is that a hijack????????????????????

 

sorry....................

 

I have no idea, its always been called a period. what do you call it in other countries.

 

“Period” is rooted in the Greek words “peri” and “hodos” (periodos) meaning “around” and “way/path.” This eventually turned into the Latin “periodus” meaning “recurring cycle.” Use of the English term “period” to describe menstruation began in the early 1800s (1). These euphemisms are found in texts spanning millennia.